Product Review!.

ell its a big claim to make but we have selected the following two soldering

irons as being the best value for money on the Australian electronic retail market!.

Firstly the DS-2200 you see pictured above is fantastic for general printed circuit

board work and we use one ourselves on our own test bench!, what we required

in our repair department was a unit that could stand up to daily usage and over the

years we have tried many stations, some of them costing upwards of $300.00!.

Most of the units worked quite well but we found that if they were left on for

long periods of time (e.g.- several hours) the end result would be a burnt out element

or switch within the hand piece! and for those of you who have replaced one of

these spares you will be aware of the fact that in a Weller for instance this can cost

you an average of $50.00 to replace the faulty part! and if you want to replace the

whole hand piece that would be about $130.00!.

In another example a well known and expensive Japanese solder station was

trialled and all appeared well at first, but again if left on for several hours at a

time another problem would arise?, this time a bent (1.0mm) soldering tip was

the result and the station was only running at about 350 degrees c!.

By now we were running out of options and were spending more time repairing

our own equipment rather than attending to the customers needs!.

In the end we decided to use our featured DS-2200, initially short term until

we could get some spares for our Weller, but to our amazement this economical

unit stood up to our constant usage! and we have had it on the bench for three

years without a problem!.

I don't want to offend the large manufacturers at all because they make great

products but what we are essentially saying is that you don't have to spend a fortune

to get a great solder station and this is a fine example.

On a final note from an ease of service point of view the DS-2200 is a real winner,

we have sold many of them over the years and have only ever had a couple back

for repair and rather than sending them back to the manufacturer we prefer

to do the work ourselves as this saves the customer some turnaround time.

Upon examination of the two faulty units presented to us it was discovered

that they both had the same problem which turned out to be a burnt 1 Watt

resistor!, now that sure beats replacing a heating element!.

In conclusion if you are looking for a great iron at a reasonable price

this is the one to go for (in our opinion!), but if you insist on a Weller or a

Haiko we have those at Preston Electronics as well!, just drop in or ring

for a competitive price.

 Specifications!.

DS-2200 (Bench Top Soldering Station).

Temperature Range (150Deg.c-450Deg.c).

Element (Ceramic).

Control Voltage (24 Volts).

Cable (Flexible Heat Resistant Silicon).

To Order This Unit!.

P.E.C. Order Code. PEC/DS-2200.

Purchase Price. $199.00 AUD (Includes Gst).

Optional Soldering Tips- (1.00mm Fine Point- 2.4mm Fine Chisel- 3.2mm Large Chisel).

Tip Purchase Prices. $14.95 AUD (Includes Gst).

Delivery. $15.00 (Express Post Australia Wide).

O/SEAS AIRMAIL - (Reasonable Rates).

e all like a great solder station on the test bench but for mobile service work

nothing beats a quality hand held unit and with so many on the market most of which

are quite reliable finding a clear winner became a more difficult task for us.

That is until we came across a little known brand that is manufactured in Japan

and is quite new to the Australian marketplace.

The manufacturers name is Goot and in our opinion this would be one of the finest

hand only fixed temperature soldering irons money can buy!.

There are several reasons it comes out on top, firstly the finish is first rate and

the mains power lead is made from flexible silicone rubber, the tip is ESD static safe

so its perfect for computer service work where use of an inexpensive iron can damage

sensitive CMOS Ics (Integrated Circuits).

Just like the previously mentioned solder station this unit could stand up to our

constant usage and we found it to be perfect for the really fine jobs such as service

work on mobile phones and with tip sizes starting at an incredible .3 mm the

PI-1430 performed extremely well!.

The Goot is a worthy winner in our "Best Hand Iron" category and whilst its

not the cheapest iron around we think its the best!, if you get one you wont be disappointed.

 Specifications!.

Tip Temperature (Set at 320Deg c).

Wattage (46W).

Power Lead (Silicon Rubber).

Tip Size Standard (0.5mm).

To Purchase This Product!.

P.E.C Order Code. PI-1430.

Purchase Price. $89.95 AUD (Includes Gst).

Optional Soldering Tips- (.3mm Micro Point- .5mm Fine Point).

Tip Purchase Prices. $19.95 AUD (Includes Gst).

Delivery. $15.00 (Express Post Australia Wide).

O/SEAS AIRMAIL -P.O.A (Reasonable Rates).